NEWS ROUND-UP Agents hit top gear to win Minis


Five agents drove off in their very own Minis after making bookings from Manchester airport in the past year. The MAG-nificent campaign has run for four years, but became the airport’s biggest-ever trade incentive for its 80th birthday in 2018. Agents who booked holidays with flights from Manchester were entered into prize draws, with one from each of five regions plucked from 13,000 entries. The agents, presented with the cars under a retired Concorde at Manchester’s Runway Visitor Park, were: Deborah Little, Travel Counsellors, Huddersfield; Ann Jones, Teithiau Menai Travel, Gwynedd; Alana Stewart, Jigsaw Travel, Glasgow; Shelley Cully, Selective Travel, County Armagh; and Joanne Evershed, Loveholidays, London.


Tui cites ‘challenging’ year but profits still rise 10.9%


Ian Taylor ian.taylor@travelweekly.co.uk


Tui has reported trading for the current winter season is “a little problematic”, but Tui Group chief executive Fritz Joussen insisted he foresees no problem with flight otreit


The group reported a


fullyear rofit of  illion last ee desite a  fall in reta earnins year on year to  illion e rous underlyin


oeratin rofit in te  onts to eteer as u  to  illion at constant currency, ic eliinates te iact of fluctuatin ecane rates Joussen ailed  as a


ery ood year desite it ein


callenin He told Travel Weekly t ust ae een a callenin year ecause eeryody ad a rofit arnin  oas oo, te locost carriers, consuer coanies e sa it as callenin a little it in our tour oerator as


JOUSSEN: ‘In the UK, winter sales are up but margins contained’


ell, ut tat is only  of our rofits uis otel and cruise susidiaries


no account for  of rou rofits, it Joussen insistin uis transforation fro a traditional tour oerator is ayin off Hoeer, e reorted rou ooins for tis inter don  year on year to early eceer, it aerae sellin rices don 


8travelweekly.co.uk20 December 2018 70%


Proportion of Tui profits generated by its non- tour operating arms


Joussen said inter is a little


roleatic e first uarter to eceer ill not e ood year on year, and te second uarter to arc ill also e difficult n te , inter ooins are


u ut arins are contained He noted aster is in te


second alf of te year in ril so tere are soe callenes in te inter uarters, ut te suer uarters ill e ery attractie et e insisted a nodeal reit


sould not e a role He said ets say Jaaica as


an areeent on flyin rits it te  ut not it te  en e rin our oein


s to Jaaica, no one ill say e cant fly tere ractically, it is not difficult


COMMENT: “We have a responsibility to give agents hooks to help dispel incorrect assumptions” Giles Hawke, page 28


NEWS IN BRIEF


Pimentel to be keynote speaker at Clia conference


Azamara Club Cruises president and chief executive Larry Pimentel


will be keynote speaker at Clia’s flagship conference, which takes place on May 15-17. The event, themed ‘Next Generation’, will explore how lines are shaping holidays through innovation.


Fankhauser invests £50k in Thomas Cook shares


Thomas Cook Group chief executive Peter Fankhauser has given a vote of confidence in the company by spending £50,000 on 172,117 shares.  Talk Back, page 17


Belmond to be bought for $2.6bn by LVMH


Luxury group LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton is to buy Belmond, which has a portfolio of 46 hotel, rail and river cruise businesses, for $2.6 billion.


Icelolly.com to sponsor shows on ITV in new year


Comparison site Icelolly.com has agreed a multimillion- pound deal to sponsor shows on ITV2 and ITV3 from January.


PICTURE: IAN HOWARTH


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